RAW 12-9-16

Lithium93_

2 weeks away from Clash Of Champions, can Roman Reigns earn a spot in the WWE Universal championship match to make it a triple threat?

Preview for tonight's show as follows

Fight, Reigns, Fight
Kevin Owens had some help in winning the WWE Universal Championship last month — Triple H gets the big assist on that one — but we wonder if The Prizefighter is hoping for some backup on this week’s Raw, when he goes one-on-one with Roman Reigns. If The Big Dog defeats Owens live in Baltimore, the WWE Universal Title bout at WWE Clash of Champions becomes a Triple Threat Match!

Every Superstar on Team Red will be pulling out all the stops on Raw, one night after SmackDown LIVE’s Backlash, and based on Reigns’ actions as of late, he’ll be even more fired-up than usual. Is Owens ready for the onslaught that awaits him? Will Chris Jericho be on-hand in case The Prizefighter finds himself outmatched?

Additionally, one has to imagine that Seth Rollins will be watching this match closely, as it could transform a traditional one-on-one battle at Clash of Champions into a far more chaotic three-man melee — one that Rollins could lose without even being pinned. Will The Architect somehow get involved in the action Monday night? Regardless, this is one you won’t want to miss.


Charlotte fights a war on two fronts
Sasha Banks came to Raw with some “bad news” for Charlotte this past Monday night, revealing that she’s healthy and ready to take back her Raw Women’s Title at WWE Clash of Champions. As devastating as that bombshell was to the second-generation Superstar — and Dana Brooke, who fell victim to a surprise Bank Statement when she crossed The Boss — one has to also consider that Bayley dropped a bomb on Charlotte herself when she pinned the champion Monday night in a non-title bout.

Are Charlotte’s days as Raw Women’s Champion numbered? Also, what’s next for Dana Brooke, who was humiliated and slapped by Charlotte backstage last week?

Cesaro and Sheamus battle in Match No. 5 of Best of Seven Series
Facing elimination in the Best of Seven Series this past Wednesday in London, Cesaro pulled off a spectacular victory that prevented Sheamus from a clean sweep and ensured that he’d live to fight another day. This Monday, to be precise.

Now, The Swiss Superman and The Celtic Warrior head to Match No. 5 in their Best of Seven Series to determine which of these physically dominant Team Red competitors will earn a championship match. Will Cesaro’s momentum save him from elimination on Monday, or will the imposing Irishman win the series at 4-1?

Are the fun and games over for The New Day?
Retirement specialists” Luke Gallows & Karl Anderson took a page out of The New Day’s book by presenting the Raw Tag Team Champions with a trio of decrepit doppelgangers known as “The Old Day,” giving Kofi Kingston, Big E & Xavier Woods a glimpse at their “future selves.” Unfortunately for Gallows, Anderson and their costumed associates, The New Day weren’t amused by the imitation, sending the “good brothers” packing before repelling the imposters’ feeble attempt at an ambush.

Will we see a more aggressive side of The New Day Monday night, less than two weeks before their Raw Tag Team Title defense against Gallows & Anderson?

Do you “Bo-Lieve in Bo”?
With an even more “inspirational” attitude and newfound in-ring aggression, Bo Dallas turned heads this past Monday night with an impressive and arguably brutal victory over local competitor Kyle Roberts. With a new mantra that urges the WWE Universe to “Bo-Lieve in Bo,” will Dallas continue to prove to the rest of Team Red that he’s not to be taken lightly?

J. Marston

I kinda want Dana to win. She's been fun as the long-suffering lackey.

Neil3030

Thought they were setting that up as a double pin.

Ageyev

Not much interest in here tonight I guess. Owens v Reigns could be good but the result is probably a forgone co conclusion.

Women's match was pretty good.

martyos121

I think this is my favourite Chris Jericho ever. Look forward to his segments every week now, different class of the mic.

johnnysmack

Zayn is lucky he wasn't hit with the old Nokia phone or he'd never get up again

Mr.Nice Guy

I normally don't think much of those talking segments but I really enjoyed that one between Jericho and Zayn. Jericho was tremendous there.

Very difficult to get people invested in a PPV feud when you only have 2 weeks to build it but that was about as good a job as you can do what those guys just did. I also liked the touch of Sami talking about wanting to be like Jericho when he was working to get to WWE.

johnnysmack

Did I hear that correctly? The winner of the best of 7 gets a title shot?

Ageyev

johnnysmack wrote: »

Did I hear that correctly? The winner of the best of 7 gets a title shot?

Yeah but they've not specified which title.

Mr.Nice Guy

That's the best thing they've ever done with Nia Jax.

I'd prefer her to have a manager as I think she sounds too nice when she speaks and it ruins the monster image for me. Her promo before the match didn't work for me but throwing Alicia around by the hair, and then the spear into the barricade were both brilliant visually.

I'd love to see her use the spear as a finisher. I think Kaitlyn used to use that as a finisher but Nia doing it would be much more impressive.

Mr.Nice Guy

Great main event between Owens and Reigns. For all the hate he gets, Reigns is actually a very good worker.

martyos121

Yeah I agree, Reigns has been a solid wrestler for a while now, people saying he isn't are just showing an irrational bitterness towards him, you just have to give credit where it's due.

His match with Bryan at Battleground last year was the first time I noticed it. Thought he was magnificent tonight against Owens, but it's hard to have a bad match with either of them.

It's the clear favouritism shown towards him that put me off initially, but now that it's waning a bit, I'm starting to enjoy his work a lot more.

Ben Gadot

Reigns has been a very good worker since after Wrestlemania 31, he was just too utterly fcuked at that stage for the crowd to appreciate it.

The MITB where Wyatt cost him sticks out in my mind as I remember being genuinely sad tgat he didn't win, as I thought he deserved it at that stage.

But then he fcuked himself up with his violation. They're right to revisit the Rusev feud as he needs start fresh.

CSF

He's a grand worker, he's just a heel. Not impossible that he might get over with the crowd while a heel but not much chance of stopping the boos while a face.

More than decent Raw.

Agent Coulson

A rare sighting of the lesser spotted Jack Swagger last night.

CSF

Agent Coulson wrote: »

A rare sighting of the lesser spotted Jack Swagger last night.

Poor guy

sky88

reigns has had a tremendous year in ring. his character is terrible and hes a natural heel who has been booked terribly as a face.

J. Marston

Agent Coulson wrote: »

A rare sighting of the lesser spotted Jack Swagger last night.

Weird that he lost. I thought it was a clear case of WWE patriotism. Bringing out Mr. America to fight Johnny Foreigner a day after the 9/11 anniversary.

Lord TSC

J. Marston wrote: »

Weird that he lost. I thought it was a clear case of WWE patriotism. Bringing out Mr. America to fight Johnny Foreigner a day after the 9/11 anniversary.

Swagger gets nothing but a one night pop from the win. "Better" (so to speak) to reignite the whole racist "Boo him cause he looks Muslim" gimmick. I'd imagine we'll get Jinder beating Henry soon enough.

Raw really has slipped back to pre-Draft levels for me. Owens is great, Jericho is great, but other than that, there's not much to write home about. Considering they've had 4 or 5 weeks to build the PPV, nothing jumps out at me.

Owens is obviously the heel, but Rollins was written like a whiny bitch. Wasn't impressed with how they are building him as supposedly their top babyface.

New Day calling out the awfulness of last weeks segment made me chuckle. Pushing The Club getting back to basics is smart.

Hated that Bayley ate the pin clean in the triple threat, but it looks like Charlotte vs Dana is the story they'll tell post PPV. Whether thats for the title or not, who knows (they could have Sasha win and move into a heel turn vs Bayley). The crowd were hot for Dana though which was surprising but awesome.

Anyone else notice how long a delay there was before Bayley came out, when everyone was just left standing looking at each other? I wonder when that happens, is it someone backstage seeing how they'll deal with unexpected gaps. It was very obvious they were waiting for Bayley to come out.

Very Meh show though. They'll have had a longer build towards CoC than Smackdown did for Backlash, but I have way, way less interest in Raw's showing.

Bounty Hunter

Lord TSC wrote: »

Raw really has slipped back to pre-Draft levels for me. Owens is great, Jericho is great, but other than that, there's not much to write home about. Considering they've had 4 or 5 weeks to build the PPV, nothing jumps out at me.

A day after the show and still only 1 page of the thread here really highlights that for me and yeah although I enjory everything Jeri-KO the show is 3 hours long and they only make up a small portion of that while the rest can be a slog and one with so much repetition.

The tag titles angle on the show for example had the commentators point out we were seeing a rematch from Summerslam on Raw and that then again in 2 weeks we would have the same match for the titles. Is it really neccesary to have the exact same match so many times especially when you already have Sheamus & Cesaro fighting every week plus a couples of squash matches every week (now Bo instead of Nia or Braun). So much repetition

CastorTroy

Bo looks in better shape now anyway.
Where's Axel these days? Do they still do the Superstars/Main Event shows? I don;t think they have the roster to.

Also the night after the Smackdown women's title match, it shows that Smackdown came out better in the draft than initially thought.
And why did they rush taking the title off Sasha when her injury hadn't been confirmed? I'm assuming that's why they took it off her.

ERG89

Too much wwe to watch lately. After SummerSlam I feel completely burnt out & bored watching it. A PPV what feels like every fortnight looks like they want to appeal to die heart fans cause to me it feels like they are failing to gain new fans.

DM_7

A 1.88 rating for RAW.

At this rate Smackdown will pass it out.

Could RAW lose its Monday slot and be moved to another night?

grames_bond

DM_7 wrote: »

A 1.88 rating for RAW.

At this rate Smackdown will pass it out.

Could RAW lose its Monday slot and be moved to another night?

1.88?! that has got to be an all time low or something! :eek:

CastorTroy

So has it been revealed yet if we have different creative for Smackdown and Raw?

Lord TSC

CastorTroy wrote: »

So has it been revealed yet if we have different creative for Smackdown and Raw?

IIRC, Meltzer said it's still Vince running both shows. Smackdown feels way closer to a HHH booked show though...

EDIT: Though, reading Reddit at the moment, apparently the Head Writer on Smackdown is Ryan Ward who was the head writer of NXT before hand.

Neil3030

grames_bond wrote: »

1.88?! that has got to be an all time low or something! :eek:

If one of Jericho or Owens were on Smackdown, I don't think I'd ever watch Raw.